Greatest Film Performances by Year
(US/UK) 1940 - 1949

1949

  1. James Cagney - White Heat
  2. Olivia de Havilland - The Heiress
  3. Alec Guinness - Kind Hearts and Coronets
  4. Katharine Hepburn - Adam's Rib
  5. Orson Welles - The Third Man
  6. Broderick Crawford - All the King's Men
  7. Mercedes McCambridge - All the King's Men
  8. Ralph Richardson - The Heiress
  9. Kirk Douglas - Champion
10. Spencer Tracy - Adam's Rib
11. Richard Todd - The Hasty Heart
12. John Wayne - Sands of Iwo Jima
13. Deborah Kerr - Edward, My Son
14. Gregory Peck - Twelve O'Clock High
15. Gene Kelly - On the Town
16. Jeanne Crain - Pinky
17. Loretta Young - Come to the Stable
18. Robert Ryan - The Set-Up
19. Edmond O'Brien - White Heat
20. Dean Jagger - Twelve O'Clock High

1948

  1. Laurence Olivier - Hamlet
  2. Jane Wyman - Johnny Belinda
  3. Humphrey Bogart - Treasure of the Sierra Madre
  4. Olivia de Havilland - The Snake Pit
  5. Montgomery Clift - Red River
  6. Edward G. Robinson - Key Largo
  7. Joan Fontaine - Letter From an Unknown Woman
  8. Lauren Bacall - Key Largo
  9. Walter Huston - Treasure of the Sierra Madre
10. John Wayne - Red River
11. Irene Dunne - I Remember Mama
12. Barbara Stanwyck - Sorry, Wrong Number
13. Montgomery Clift - The Search
14. Anton Walbrook - The Red Shoes
15. Alec Guinness - Oliver Twist
16. Ingrid Bergman - Joan of Arc
17. Jean Simmons - Hamlet
18. James Stewart - Rope
19. Rex Harrison - Unfaithfully Yours
20. Cathy O'Donnell - They Live By Night

1947

  1. Robert Mitchum - Out of the Past
  2. Ronald Colman - A Double Life
  3. Charlie Chaplin - Monsieur Verdoux
  4. Rosalind Russell - Mourning Becomes Electra
  5. Loretta Young - The Farmer's Daughter
  6. John Garfield - Body and Soul
  7. William Powell - Life with Father
  8. Richard Widmark - Kiss of Death
  9. Joan Crawford - Possessed
10. Susan Hayward - Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman
11. Deborah Kerr - Black Narcissus
12. Michael Redgrave - Mourning Becomes Electra
13. Gregory Peck - Gentleman's Agreement
14. Edmund Gwenn - Miracle on 34th Street
15. Robert Ryan - Crossfire
16. Jane Greer - Out of the Past
17. Celeste Holm - Gentleman's Agreement
18. Rita Hayworth - The Lady from Shanghai
19. Richard Attenborough - Brighton Rock
20. James Mason - Odd Man Out

1946

  1. James Stewart - It's a Wonderful Life
  2. Fredric March - The Best Years of Our Lives
  3. Olivia de Havilland - To Each His Own
  4. Ingrid Bergman - Notorious
  5. Claude Rains - Notorious
  6. Donna Reed - It's a Wonderful Life
  7. Humphrey Bogart - The Big Sleep
  8. Cary Grant - Notorious
  9. Lana Turner - The Postman Alaways Rings Twice
10. Gregory Peck - The Yearling
11. Rosalind Russell - Sister Kenny
12. Jennifer Jones - A Duel in the Sun
13. Harold Russell - The Best Years of Our Lives
14. Jane Wyman - The Yearling
15. Lionel Barrymore - It's a Wonderful Life
16. Dana Andrews - The Best Years of Our Lives
17. Rita Hayworth - Gilda
18. Henry Travers - It's a Wonderful Life
19. Henry Fonda - My Darling Clementine
20. Burt Lancaster - The Killers

1945

  1. Ray Milland - The Lost Weekend
  2. Joan Crawford - Mildred Pierce
  3. Ingrid Bergman - Spellbound
  4. Celia Johnson - Brief Encounter
  5. Greer Garson - The Valley of Decision
  6. Trevor Howard - Brief Encounter
  7. Gregory Peck - Spellbound
  8. Gene Tierney - Leave Her to Heaven
  9. Gene Kelly - Anchors Aweigh
10. Ingrid Bergman - The Bells of St. Mary's
11. Bing Crosby - The Bells of St. Mary's
12. Cornel Wilde - Leave Her to Heaven
13. Angela Lansbury - The Picture of Dorian Gray
14. Robert Mitchum - The Story of G.I. Joe
15. Cornel Wilde - A Song to Remember
16. Jennifer Jones - Love Letters
17. J. Carrol Naish - A Medal for Benny
18. Ann Blyth - Mildred Pierce
19. Robert Montgomery - They Were Expendable
20. James Dunn - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

1944

  1. Ingrid Bergman - Gaslight
  2. Barbara Stanwyck - Double Indemnity
  3. Laurence Olivier - Henry V
  4. Cary Grant - Arsenic And Old Lace
  5. Charles Boyer - Gaslight
  6. Humphrey Bogart - To Have and Have Not
  7. Bing Crosby - Going My Way
  8. Barry Fitzgerald - Going My Way
  9. Alexander Knox - Wilson
10. Cary Grant - None But The Lonely Heart
11. Elizabeth Taylor - National Velvet
12. Lauren Bacall - To Have and Have Not
13. Claudette Colbert - Since You Went Away
14. Greer Garson - Mrs. Parkington
15. Bette Davis - Mr. Skeffington
16. Fred MacMurray - Double Indemnity
17. Margaret O'Brien - Meet Me in St. Louis
18. Clifton Webb - Laura
19. Ethel Barrymore - None But The Lonely Heart
20. Dick Powell - Murder, My Sweet

1943

  1. Jennifer Jones - The Song Of Bernadette
  2. Paul Lukas - Watch on the Rhine
  3. Joseph Cotten - Shadow of a Doubt
  4. Ingrid Bergman - For Whom the Bell Tolls
  5. Jean Arthur - The More the Merrier
  6. Greer Garson - Madame Curie
  7. Joan Fontaine - The Constant Nymph
  8. Roger Livesey - The Life & Death of Colonel Blimp
  9. Katina Paxinou - For Whom the Bell Tolls
10. Mickey Rooney - The Human Comedy
11. Joel McCrea - The More the Merrier
12. Gary Cooper - For Whom the Bell Tolls
13. Charles Coburn - The More the Merrier
14. Joan Fontaine - Jane Eyre
15. Henry Fonda - The Ox-Bow Incident
16. Humphrey Bogart - Sahara
17. Walter Pidgeon - Madame Curie
18. Deborah Kerr - The Life & Death of Colonel Blimp
19. Akim Tamiroff - For Whom the Bell Tolls
20. Ida Lupino - The Hard Way

1942

  1. Humphrey Bogart - Casablanca
  2. James Cagney - Yankee Doodle Dandy
  3. Ingrid Bergman - Casablanca
  4. Greer Garson - Mrs. Miniver
  5. Carole Lombard - To Be or Not To Be
  6. Katharine Hepburn - Woman of the Year
  7. Agnes Moorehead - The Magnificent Ambersons
  8. Bette Davis - Now, Voyager
  9. Gary Cooper - The Pride of the Yankees
10. Claude Rains - Casablanca
11. Monty Woolley - The Pied Piper
12. Ronald Colman - Random Harvest
13. Teresa Wright - Mrs. Miniver
14. Joseph Cotten - The Magnificent Ambersons
15. Walter Pidgeon - Mrs. Miniver
16. Teresa Wright - The Pride of the Yankees
17. Susan Peters - Random Harvest
18. Gene Kelly - For Me and My Gal
19. Tim Holt - The Magnificent Ambersons
20. John Mills - In Which We Serven

1941

  1. Orson Welles - Citizen Kane
  2. Humphrey Bogart - The Maltese Falcon
  3. Joan Fontaine - Suspicion
  4. Barbara Stanwyck - The Lady Eve
  5. Gary Cooper - Sergeant Yorke
  6. Peter Lorre - The Maltese Falcon
  7. Humphrey Bogart - High Sierra
  8. Bette Davis - The Little Foxes
  9. Greer Garson - Blossoms in the Dust
10. Walter Huston - All That Money Can Buy
11. Robert Montgomery - Here Comes Mr. Jordan
12. Barbara Stanwyck - Ball of Fire
13. Olivia de Havilland - Hold Back the Dawn
14. Cary Grant - Penny Serenade
15. Gary Cooper - Ball of Fire
16. Joel McCrea - Sullivan's Travels
17. Donald Crisp - How Green Was My Valley
18. Joseph Cotten - Citizen Kane
19. Lon Chaney Jr. - The Wolf Man
20. Sydney Greenstreet - The Maltese Falcon

1940

  1. Katharine Hepburn - The Philadelphia Story
  2. Charlie Chaplin - The Great Dictator
  3. Henry Fonda - The Grapes of Wrath
  4. James Stewart - The Philadelphia Story
  5. Laurence Olivier - Rebecca
  6. Joan Fontaine - Rebecca
  7. Bette Davis - The Letter
  8. Cary Grant - His Girl Friday
  9. Rosalind Russell - His Girl Friday
10. Ginger Rogers - Kitty Foyle
11. Cary Grant - The Philadelphia Story
12. Martha Scott - Our Town
13. James Stewart - The Shop Around the Corner
14. Raymond Massey - Abe Lincoln in Illinois
15. Margaret Sullavan - The Shop Around the Corner
16. John Carradine - The Grapes of Wrath
17. Walter Brennan - The Westerner
18. W.C. Fields - The Bank Dick
19. Jane Darwell - The Grapes of Wrath
20. James Stephenson - The Letter